No charges against SQ officers involved in fatal Île-Perrot shooting

Investigators from the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes survey the scene of the shooting in Île-Perrot in 2016, where police had responded to a call about a man threatening to kill himself. Chad Murphy was shot by police in his apartment. After an investigation, the DPCP rules that no charges will be laid. Phil Carpenter / Montreal Gazette

From the moment Sûreté du Québec officers opened the door to Chad Murphy’s basement apartment in Île-Perrot, it took an estimated 30 seconds for him to be fatally shot.

Officers had been alerted earlier that day when Murphy sped off in anger from a family dispute. He was suicidal and distressed, his sister told police, and was sending her increasingly alarming text messages.

Details of what happened during the intervention, on Oct. 2, 2016, were released Monday by Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions (DPCP) as it announced it will not be filing charges against any of the officers involved.

After several attempts at speaking with Murphy through his door, the DPCP said, the officers opened it using a key provided by a neighbour.

Inside, they could see Murphy sitting on his living-room floor with a knife in his hand, pointing it toward his wrist. He looked at the officers and started cutting himself. He then got up and moved toward them, knife in hand.

Officers backed away and asked him to stop. When he made his way up the five steps leading to his door, one of the officers shot him from about three metres away. The entire confrontation lasted roughly 30 seconds.

The DPCP’s summary of what happened does not mention how long officers were outside Murphy’s door or how many shots were fired. Murphy, 45, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Given the circumstances, the DPCP ruled, the officers involved did not use excessive force and shouldn’t face criminal charges.

“A legally acceptable use of force is one that is not gratuitous and is applied in a measured way,” it wrote in its decision. “The intervention was legal and is based primarily on the duty of the police officers to ensure the safety and security of others.”

In August, his niece, Melissa Bergeron, had told the Montreal Gazette she couldn’t understand why the officer had to fire his weapon that night. She called for police forces to adjust how they respond to distress calls and to implement a better protocol for interventions involving people with mental-health issues.

“I understand they need to protect themselves,” Bergeron said. “But there were three or four police officers minimum that showed up to my uncle’s house. He was all by himself. A little guy, 150 pounds wet. You’re telling me they couldn’t have taken him down? That one bullet wasn’t enough?”

Murphy’s sister, Sharon, had been hopeful charges would be laid.

“I don’t know if my brother would have killed himself. I can’t guess or assume,” she said at the time, “but I called the police to help him, not to kill him.”

In Quebec, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) investigates police interventions in which a person is killed, suffers serious injuries or is shot by an officer.

The DPCP’s decision to not lay charges in Murphy’s case is based on the BEI’s investigation. According to the bureau, investigators met with 15 civilian witnesses and 14 police officers.

Since June 2016, the BEI has investigated 72 cases, including 37 fatal police interventions and four deaths that occurred during police detention. Of its investigations completed and handed over to prosecutors, so far none have led to charges.

Last week, the family of mentally-ill man Pierre Coriolan, shot dead by the Montreal police in June 2017, announced it had filed a lawsuit against the city of Montreal, claiming police acted inappropriately and with excessive force.

In a cellphone video released by the family, four police officers can be seen confronting Coriolan, who was brandishing a screwdriver in the throes of a mental health crisis.

“Within one minute and 10 seconds, police used a Taser, plastic bullets, their guns and a baton,” said Will Prosper, a former police officer and activist who organized a news conference with the family. “They didn’t have an intervention plan.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.